Geneva gearing



Jan. 5, 1943. w. H WITTE l GENEVA GEARING Filed April 2, 1941 R. mm H..m a .W W 6 w a a \v a a/0 a @Y w through engagement by Patented Jan. 5,1943 T FFICE GENEVA GEARING William H. Witte, Kansas City, Mo.,

assigner to General Vender Manufacturing Company, Kansas City, Mo., acorporation of Missouri Application April 2, 1941, Serial No. 386,481

(Cl. 'i4- 436) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to vending machines and particularly apparatusfor controlling the movement of a rotatable support for the articlesbeing vended.

One of the important aims of this invention is the provision of controlapparatus for vending machines in the nature of those shown in U. S.Letters Patent No. 2,154,388, and the primary aim of this invention isto provide a latch for the rotatable support whereby said support issecured against unauthorized and undesirable actuation means other thanparts of the vending apparatus.

Vending equipment with which control apparatus embodying the instantinvention is particularly adaptable, is likewise shown in applicationSerial No. 273,006, wherein I appear as coinventor with Eben M. Calder.

It has heretofore been determined that the bottle supporting rack invending apparatus disclosed in the aforesaid patent and application forLetters Patent, may be moved by applying force thereto, through thedelivery opening of the vending machine case or container, and since itis desirable to employ the series of slots o-n the periphery of thebottle support and not add to the parts of the equipment, a speciallydesigned latch has Ibeen created and associated with the support andGeneva gear wheel.

In the drawing: c

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view through a portion of a vendingapparatus illustrating the manner of applying movement controlling partsmade in accordance with the present invention, taken on line I-I of Fig.2.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on line II-II of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view illustrating the Geneva wheel inanother position and the latch in the operative condition; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view with the Geneva gear wheel andlatch in inverted plan.

Container 6 of conventional character has a cover 8 thereon that carriescoin operated mechanism I for operating the Geneva gear wheel, generallydesignated by the numeral I2.

A bottle support 8 has a series of alternately spaced indentations I 6and slots I 8 on its periphery to be engaged respectively by the cammembers 20 andkpins 22, the medial portions of which enter slots I8 forthe purpose of imparting driving force to support I4. When cams 20engage arcuately shaped indentations I6, the parts will be lockedagainst relative movement if the mechanism in coin ac- I4 rotatablymounted on cover' intermediate its ends by a .in the path of travel ofventional Geneva gear wheel tuatecl structure IB is locked. In someinstances and under some conditions however, mechanism I is not lockedand access to support I4 permits objectionable actuation of the parts ofthe apparatus which supports the bottle or other articles being soldthrough the medium of the machine.

To positively preclude movement of support I4 during times when cammembers are supposed to be locking the support I4 against rotation,latch 24 is added in a manner illustrated in the drawing. This latch ispivotally supported boss 26 mounted on the underside of cover S adjacentGeneva gear wheel I2.

One end of latch 2t has a laterally extending ear 28 positionable withinslots I8, while the other end is in the nature of a finger 39 disposedthe depending portions 32 of said wheel I2. A spring 34 mounted on bossyieldably urges ear 28 against the arcuately shaped indentations I6 ofsupport I4 until the latter reaches a position where ear 28 is forcedinto one of slots I8.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the thickness of ear 28 is slightly less thanthe width of slots I 8 and therefore, when Geneva gear wheel I2 isrotated from the position shown in Fig. 3, one of pins 22 will be givenan opportunity of engaging finger 3l) to lift ear 28 from within a slotI8 before the said pin enters another of the slots I8 to impart force tosupport I4.

The employment of a latch such as just described, eliminates thenecessity of providing a ratchet of any type for support I 4, and thecon- I2 already found to be a desirable element in vending apparatus, isused to operate latch 213.- The latch is positive' in its functioning asmeans for precluding the movement of support I4 in either directionabout its pivotal support, and functions more positively than is thecase where effort is made to include movement arresting parts in thecoin controlled mechanism I t.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Leters Patent is: l

1. In apparatus of the character described, a container; a supportrotatably mounted in said container having a series of alternatelyspaced indentations and slots on its periphery; a drive member havingportions engageable in the slots and indentations of the supportrespectively; and a latch engageable in one of the slots when one of theportions of the members is in engagement with an indentation of thesupport, said latch having a part disposed in the path of travel ofcertain of the portions of the drive member whereby to withdraw thelatch from the slots as driving force is imparted to the support.

2. In apparatus of the character described, a container; a supportrotatably mounted in said container having a series of alternatelyspaced indentations and slots on its periphery; a drive member havingportions engageable in the slots and indentations of the supportrespectively; and a latch engageable in one of the slots When one of theportions of the member is in engagement with an indentation of thesupport, said latch having a part disposed in the path of travel ofcertain of the portions of the drive member whereby to withdraw thelatch from the slots as driving force is imparted to the support, saidlatch being mounted on the case and provided with a spring to yieldablyurge the latch toward the indentations and slots in the support.

3. In apparatus of the character described, a container; a supportrotatably mounted in said container having a series of alternatelyspaced indentations and slots on its periphery; a drive member rotatablymounted on the container comprising cam members for engaging theindentations and pins for entering the slots; and a latch mounted on thecontainer comprising a linger on one end in the path of travel of thepins, an ear on the other end movable toward and from the slots, and aspring for urging the ear toward the support, said ear being in one ofthe slots when one of the cam members is in engagement with anindentation of the support.

WILLIAM H. VWVI'I'E.A

